NASA officials are preparing for the first ever Mars return mission set to begin next month. The agency will launch its Mars Perseverance rover into orbit on July 20thand it is expected to land on the planet in February.
Despite the coronavirus pandemic, NASA AdministratorJim Bridenstine says the mission was heavily protected because earth and mars align on the same side of the sun only once every 26 months.
Bridenstine says storing the robot, about the size of an SUV, for over two years could cost about half a billion dollars. The rover will also have a helicopter strapped to it, which will fly on another planet for the first time in human history. The mission will commence on the same date Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon in 1969.
Source:NASA